Editorial
Much of the electorate, it seems, judging from the results of last week’s elections, want change. Virginia’s voters conveyed this message in a rather emphatic manner, turning the state’s top three offices from red to blue in decisive fashion as well as giving Democrats a huge majority in the House of Delegates.
We don’t know whether voters were voicing their dissatisfaction with the current governor, the president, the prolonged shutdown of the federal government, the DOGE evisceration of federal jobs in northern Virginia, or some combination thereof.
Whatever the reasons, there was a blue wave across the state of Virginia that swept Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger, Lt. Gov.-elect Ghazala Hashmi and Attorney Gen.-elect Jay Jones into office and is to give Democrats a 64-36 advantage in the House of Delegates.
Locally, voters in Buena Vista also embraced change, choosing a new mayor over the incumbent and flipping two of three seats on City Council that were up for election. Mayor-elect Jesse Lineberry will be replacing incumbent Mayor Tyson Cooper while Council members-elect Stephanie Noel-Branch and Amy Gilliam will be taking the City Council seats currently occupied by Stanley Coffey and Melvin Henson. Only Vice Mayor Danny Staton, of those up for election this year, retained his City Council seat.
There were seven candidates vying for the three pending vacancies on Buena Vista City Council – evidence that there was a substantial amount of interest in what’s transpiring in city government. We’re not sure what message the city’s voters sent last week – maybe they were just upset about the city’s relatively high tax rate.
From our perspective, things have been looking up in Buena Vista. Downtown seems to be on the verge of resurgence. Housing construction is on the upswing. Mountain Gateway Community College’s Wilson Workforce Training Center opened this past year, providing local residents with training that could lead to high-paying jobs. Modine Manufacturing, the city’s largest employer, is hiring. Southern Virginia University appears to be flourishing.
It is true that SVU’s plans for a huge new dormitory are causing some angst in the community. SVU could have done a better job of rolling out these plans, communicating the details to neighbors and preparing a more thought-out plan for parking to accommodate the influx of students who would be moving onto campus. The fact remains, though, that a new dormitory is needed to house students who are now crowding into houses in the city’s residential neighborhoods.
What we hope isn’t happening is a reemergence of a schism between SVU and certain sectors of the community who resented the university’s presence in the past. There was some such discord when SVU came into being three decades ago but it has been our observation that most folks put aside their differences long ago and learned to appreciate each other and the contributions everyone makes to the community.
We hope this continues to be the case. We urge the mayor-elect and all of the members of City Council, new and old, to work together and continue the good work that the current and past councils have done.
